Sport

Lilywhites reflect on 10 years of progress in Lgbtqi+ fight

Published

9 months ago

February 27, 2024

Proud Lilywhites, the official LGBTQI+ supporters’ group for Tottenham Hotspur, has made great strides since its inception 10 years ago.

Celebrating a decade of fighting for equality in football and tackling homophobic attitudes, co-founder Chris Paouros said initially they hoped to “put ourselves out of business” by improving equality in football and changing homophobic attitudes.

mong their accomplishments, the Proud Lilywhites have helped a member gain asylum in the UK. They’ve also played a role in recognising the ‘Chelsea rent boy’ chant as a homophobic hate crime.

The group has been marked their 10-year milestone with numerous activities. In honour of Pride Lilywhities’ 10th anniversary, respective matches against Wolves and Aston Villa have been dedicated to the group.

Among their accomplishments, the Proud Lilywhites have helped a member gain asylum in the UK. They’ve also played a role in recognising the ‘Chelsea rent boy’ chant as a homophobic hate crime.

Tottenham’s 62,850-seater stadium was lit up in rainbow colours, a dazzling sight celebrated again on February 15 during an event that saw players like Ben Davies and Ellie Brazil attending. Co-founder Paourous told PA: “Walking down the High Road (before Wolves), I can’t even begin to tell you how I felt.

“I come from Seven Sisters way and seeing the stadium saying celebrating 10 years of Proud Lilywhites, it almost took my breath away and I feel emotion now talking about it. We just made up this thing 10 years ago and thought this is a good idea!

“As a LGBTQI+ fan, you don’t always feel football is for you. And I always say that feeling when the ball is about to hit the back of the net and everyone rises in unison, you don’t get that anywhere else. For that reason I don’t want to deny that for anybody.”

Spurs’ executive director Donna-Maria Cullen, Troy Townsend of Kick It Out, Women in Football’s Jo Tongue and Olympic gold-medallist Helen Richardson-Walsh all attended the celebration event. Ledley King, the former captain of Tottenham, was there too.

King has been helping the Proud Lilywhites since the start. He was in the first picture they took at a game against Dnipro on February 27, 2014.

The Proud Lilywhites team first met up at White Hart Lane to talk about starting the group a decade ago. They met in the Bill Nicholson Suite and decided their group would focus on community, education, and campaigning. They wanted to help change people’s lives and even the law.

Later in the year, they showed their rainbow flag at White Hart Lane for the first time. This helped fans like group co-chair Lee Johnson fall in love with football again.

Paouros said: “When we first put a flag up at White Hart Lane, there was a huge hoo-ha about it.

“Now it is a permanent fixture and people are proud of it. You can say it is just a symbol to say you are inclusive, but actually that flag has brought so many people back to the game.

The homophobic chant aimed at Chelsea, their players and fans, had pushed Johnson away from football. But in 2022, the Crown Prosecution Service recognised it as a homophobic hate crime.

This happened after Proud Lilywhites and Chelsea Pride co-chair Tracy Brown collected evidence through victim impact statements to change the law. Proud Lilywhites also works with Kick It Out to educate fans. And they take great pride in helping a committee member get asylum in the UK.

“One of our members, she is a committee member now, was seeking asylum in this country for persecution for her sexual orientation,” Paouros explained. “And as you know if you seek asylum, you have to prove it and how on earth do you prove your sexual orientation? It is unthinkable.

“However, in 2016 or 2017, we did a stall before the north London derby where we made rainbow rock sweets, talked about Proud Lilywhites. She helped and it was photographed.

“So, that evidence of helping with the stall along with a letter we wrote supporting her case meant she was granted asylum and it is one case, but I am really proud of that.”